What is life about? In the end, does it all amount to a wisp of vapor, a puff of wind, a mere breath--nothing you can get your hands on--the nearest thing to zero? So says the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes. But is this the whole message of Ecclesiastes? With imagination and clarity, Derek Kidner introduces this Old Testament book which speaks so powerfully to our generation. His love of Hebrew poetry and his understanding of biblical mind shine...

Genesis sets the scene for the whole of the Bible, and indeed the entire human drama. In this BST commentary, Joyce G. Baldwin shows how the vivid narratives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in Genesis 12-50 still speak to us today, highlighting God's ways of dealing with ordinary, imperfect people in fulfilling his great plan for the whole of humanity.

Where do we come from? What is our purpose? In this BST commentary, David Atkinson explores how the first eleven chapters of Genesis serve as an overture to the rest of the Bible. With vivid insight, Atkinson illuminates how the meaning of Genesis is still resonant today--helping us understand both the greatness and the tragic flaw inherent in human beings.

Reading Deuteronomy can be like standing before Israel with Moses, hearing him address us as a future generation of the covenant people of God. Though we may have passed over the Jordan into the good land, we still struggle with temptations and opposition. Raymond Brown's The Message of Deuteronomy guides Christians to hear and appreciate the timeless relevance of this message from the Plains of Moab. His compilation of impertant historical and biblican...

Ever since Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth, Christians have gravitated to this great prophecy as the interpretive center of the Old Testament. Here the story of Israel, scourged by judgment and exile and hopeful of restoration, is framed by its witnesses, heaven and earth. How will Israel be brought through its school of suffering and be propelled toward its divine destiny as the vanguard of a new heaven and earth?...

The book of Nehemiah is about starting over again. Nehemiah, one of Israel's great leaders, tells firsthand the powerful story of the rebuilding of ancient Jerusalem's walls after the exile. This rebuilding, in the face of great odds, represented the people's renewal of faith, their overcoming of national shame and the reforming of their conduct. "Brown vividly sketches Nehemiah's historical and social setting and demonstrates the striking relevance...

When the Lord promised the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants (Gen 15:7), every part of it was already occupied by other peoples. The long Journey to possession of the Promised Land was prepared by God, yet it led through a path of adversity. We, the readers of the Old Testament, are left to wonder why." In this engaging commentary on Exodus, Alec Motyer explores the character of God through his covenant promises and persistent faithfulness...

These Old Testament books teach us some major truths: the importance of focusing on God, who is personal, sovereign, righteous and loving; of facing up to sin and judgment; of responding in repentance and faith; and of the hope of future salvation and restoration--From publisher description.

The prophet Jeremiah addressed the people of Judah and Jerusalem over a forty-year period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. The book of Jeremiah addresses the exiles, especially those in Babylon, in the years after the catastrophe. Here we encounter Jeremiah who, from his youth to old age, delivered the word of God to the people of Israel at the most terrifying time in all their troubled history. Understanding Jeremiah's context...